Find Me At Sea

One year on MV Logos II

Personal lessons from a year on a ship…

One year… wow! It has taken me a long while to think how to summarise all that has happened and all that God has done in my life this year. I don’t think it’s something that can be summarised actually. Maybe not even my closest friends here on the ship will ever realise all that has happened. But let me try.

One thing I have come to see is the many answered prayers. I came to the ships 4 months after completing my degree. University was the first time for me when I had really had good friends and coming to the ships it was hard for me to leave them, to leave my church family, and to leave the place that had been the first place to feel like ‘home’ in a long time. (Thank you to my uni friends and to my church family in Caernarfon – you know who you are and you mean so much to me…) and to almost throw away that one thing that I had always wanted. It seemed a little absurd to many who knew me, that I would set aside my friendships, my degree, the possibility for a career in science, money… everything that to the world equals stability. But I knew that these things would not bring me long-term happiness, only obedience to God can bring fulfillment. The first 6 months on the ship, again I was back to struggling with friendships, feeling lonely and not having a group of people who I could call my good friends. I have seen God’s hand in this so much and answers to long prayed prayers… Now I can honestly say that I am blessed not only with close friends but with a group of people. I no longer feel on the fringes but really feel I belong to a family. Luke (US), Alisa (US), Christy (US), Denise (Germany), Wilko (Netherlands), Jessica (US), Alli (Australia), Aubrey (US), thank you so much for including me in your ‘family’. There are many more friends who I could mention but these are the ones who have had most impact in my life in the past 6 months.

I have been in the galley now for 1 year, 10 months of this as a shift leader. Along with leadership, I feel it is time to move on, but as yet I do not know where I will work. I am currently training one person to replace me as shift leader sometime in the next couple of months. Working in the galley has taught me many leadership skills and helped me to recognise many of my strengths and weaknesses. I have worked with so many teams of people, with changes to my shift every couple of months as people join and leave the ship. Not only have I worked with ship’s company but also with volunteers in many ports, from different walks of life – Christians and non-Christians, those with other employment and some who are unemployed, English-speakers and non-English-speakers, male and female, young and old. I have been in charge of small groups of teenagers onboard for a one-day experience and working with my shift for a couple of hours. I think that my people skills have greatly improved! It has also been such a blessing to see God working in the lives of the galley workers. Some people I have had the privilege of working with for the whole year and seeing God grow them and change them, challenge and bless them. Others I have just seen God’s hand in for a short period of time but in a mighty way. I have loved to be a part of what God has been doing through the ministry of working in the galley. For many of you reading this, you may think that you are not a missionary, but let me encourage you that if you are a Christian seeking to serve God, He will use you wherever you are in whatever job. Take the opportunities that He presents you with to live out your faith, to serve faithfully going the extra mile, to share His love in word and in action. Yes, life circumstances require us to work and to earn a living but a job is so much more than that… it is a mission field, full of people who need the love of God. And for those of you reading this that do not know the amazing gift of a relationship with the living God, let me challenge you to seek Him. For those who seek Him with all their heart will find Him (Jeremiah 29:12-13).

In my 6 month newsletter I gave this quote from the book ‘There is a God in Heaven’ by D. Marsh; ‘When God calls us, He does not ask us to be great, or successful. All He asks is our faithfulness! He promises to do the rest!’ I talked in my previous newsletter about how I have struggled with many of the ‘ministry’ activities I have been asked to do. It has become something of a battle of discerning whether God really wants me to do something or whether I can say no, and then a battle of the will to be faithful in what He has asked of me. I don’t always see answers to prayer in the things I struggle with, even when I am faithful, but the challenge is to know that God has been at work despite me… He is at work saving souls and changing lives. It’s not about us, it’s all about Him.

Pinned on my noticeboard in my cabin is a note that reads, ‘Satisfaction is the grave of progress.’ Those of you who know me well know that I am a person who strives for things. On the ship in the last year I know that God has been teaching me about that fine line between being content in all situations (Phil 4:11)/resting in Him, and attaining to the goal of knowing Christ more, sharing in His sufferings and becoming like Him… (Phil 3:10-16). When we strive for something, this is in our own strength and we do not have rest and contentment also. But when our goals are God-focused and we find our satisfaction only in Him, then we are attaining to something and seeking to move forward and also finding rest and contentment in Him… I believe that we should never be satisfied with our spiritual life and should always be looking to grow in God but at the same time our focus should simply be on dwelling in Him and we shouldn’t strive for what only God can do.

posted by Susan @ 7:37 pm